Sibling Studies: Why One Develops a Problem and the Other Doesn't (E88)
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Gill discusses brain networks that make us more vulnerable to developing an addiction. Childhood trauma, family history of addiction, and growing up with a parent who struggles with substances greatly increase your risk of developing your issues with addiction. We know this, but sometimes if you look at families there is one sibling who makes it out fine and the other comes out with a ton of hardship and mental health challenges. Why is that though? Is one sibling strong and the other is weak? In this episode she explores why some siblings do not develop addiction despite having the same home life and childhood trauma as the sibling who eventually develops a problem. She uses herself and her brother as a case study for this episode because her brother is just a regular guy. She has a few studies to share about the brains of siblings and non addicted healthy controls with no family history, and some more information on resilience.
What to listen to next:
E71: Trauma May Make Drugs and Alcohol Feel More Pleasurable
E74: Resilience Impacts How Much You Drink
E32: A Conversation with my Husband
E46: Neuroplasticity Helps us Recover
The most impactful thing I learned from researching last week's episode on sibling studies was about the brain differences (resilience) that were protective against developing an addiction. Resilience is a set of protective factors that helps people to successfully deal with and overcome exposure to significant risk, adversity and harmful environments without turning to substances or some other self-destructive method of coping. Resilience doesn’t mean strong vs weak, it means this person has certain personality traits, attitudes, support, and brain networks that allow them to be more capable of dealing with adversity and hardship.
Brain studies on recreational drug users that never made it to addiction have found that they recruit compensatory brain systems that buffer the impact of their drug use and increase their resilience. Brain compensation is the ability of the brain to increase its activity in certain networks and to also recruit additional areas to support whatever we’re trying to do.
Sources
Ersche KD. Neurobiological correlates of the familial risk for stimulant drug dependence. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2013;38(1):238-239.
Ersche, K. et al. Abnormal brain structure implicated in stimulant drug addiction. Science. 2012
Szalavitz, M. Siblings brain study sheds light on the roots of addiction. Time. 2012
Ersche, K. et al. Brain networks underlying vulnerability to drug addiction. PNAS. 2020
Elton, A. et al. Risk and resilience for alcohol use disorder revealed in brain functional connectivity. NeuroImage: Clinical. 2021.
Cite this episode
Tietz, G. Episode 88: Sibling Studies: Why One Develops a Problem and the Other Doesn't. Sober Powered. 2022.
